The American Forces Radio and Television service touched a lot of people. Whether talent, support or listeners it touched a lot of us in ways that stateside media could only dream of. This website is unofficial and does not imply any endorsement from AFRTS, the Department of Defense or the United States government.
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Thom Whetston

From 1972-97 I was a radio announcer, mostly in the Northeast. I had the most fun with Armed Forces Radio first in Korea then in Panama. A lot of the time it was spontaneous or improvised and that made for a great learning laboratory. The network DJs, Charlie Tuna, Wolfman, Kris Erik Stevens, Jim Pewter, LaRita Shelby and the rest were so consistent, it was and amazing thing to hear. Then to Massachusetts and WEIM, WKNE, WKBK, WFGL, WMDK, WKBR, WCGY, WSRS, WGAW. Most of them don't exist as anything that resembles a radio station. I'm always ready to trade war stories... Thom Whetston afrts@live.com 612-356-AFRS (612)356-2377

Bud Widom was a jack of all trades at AFRTS, doing many many programs. IMDB says that he was born in 1918 and was in "Mister Cory" and "The Green Slime". We lost Bud in 1976. In 1964, music of the stage from AFRTS and "Footlights and Spotlights"

When I came back from Korea I met Wolfman at LAX. The only time in my life I was totally blown away by meeting a celebrity. Only thing I remember was that he was nice with magic. I've been a fan ever since.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Roger spent decades with us and did some wonderful radio. His day job was at KMPC but he grabbed a lot of announcing work at the civilian networks. A few years ago he shared his collection with us and I'm glad I can help share it.

Roger did some very stylish radio. But you've never heard it begin quite like this...

In the 1950s Andy Mansfield did a program with his wife Virginia. It Was Called "Turn Back The Clock", featuring the oldies of the last 30 years. In the 60s, he did the program by himself. Now it was called "America's Popular Music".

In the 1940s and 1950s we used 16" ETs. They were shipped in strapped boxes. I had been looking for one for years. Generally when one comes up for sale it's full of a bunch of mixed disks with no documentation and pretty pricy. I just got one. This one is history. A Marine Chaplain mailed a box of ETs to a different Chaplain in the APO. It was 1951 and this was in the middle of the Korean War. The disks were from Korea AFRS (Later AFKN). The Bob Hope show that was posted a couple of days ago is from this lot. I'm very thankful.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

This week a couple of the Air Force Recruiting shows from Roger Carroll's company. Last night I was watching a clip of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on PBS and heard that familiar voice as the announcer...

This was part of a historic set. The Korean War had just started. Korea AFRS was driving near the war zones, broadcasting from mobile studios. Private Casey Kasem was one of the troops making it happen and Bob Hope was on the air.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

We counted them down. The first rock countdown show was Rocketing Rhythms, usually hosted by Jack Brown. Today Jack is on vacation and KLACs Bill Stewart steps in with the hits from the pages of Cash Box. Here are the pre-Beatles years hits!

We had some odd filler programs. Myron J Bennett was a big deal in Des Moines radio for many years. Apparently "Talk Digest" went out on Mutual and AFRTS picked it up.

I'd always wondered what the deal was with these until I got out of the army and went to work at a very profitable daytimer (in 1984), near Christmas about 15 minutes of news and up to 27 of commercials. THAT'S what these were designed for. For us in the early 70s they were shipping shows with strange lengths. Charlie Tuna, John Doremus and Gary Owens were 45 minutes and it did need some fillers.

The matchless fidelity of Frequency Modulation. FM was almost magic. KCBH-FM in Beverly Hills was programming light orchestral music. It was a time when few if any were actally making money with FM. Seems odd... In 1959 Don Steele was there. We ran the show, but very rarely on FM.

Chris Noel has another hour of your favorites on AFRTS. If you're getting error messages it's a long story but it's because you're using a Microsoft browser, it'll play just fine using Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera or most anything else. Those are all free alternatives. Apple or Android users do not have problems.

I still say it was one of the nicest things the network ever did. For a while starting in 1983 AFRTS had jocks from all over the country do a series of shows and be the Voice of Home. One of the first was Joe Ferguson in Portland OR. Joe sent us copies of all of the shows. Thank you my friend!

In the hustle and bustle of getting something on the air, sometimes it's hard to realize how we touched our listeners.

Karoline gives a perspective:

I was born in 1947 in Berlin, Germany and from the fifth year in school we learned English. And from that year on it was not far away to AFN.

Me, my brother and our friends liked the fresh and cool presentation and of course the music, from the rock 'n roll to the beat period.

I remember especially our ultimate DJ Army Sergeant George Hudak. He made the afternoon show "Frolic at Five" very very well. Later on in the mid sixties Jan Wood made the show, also very well.

We also heard the country-and western music show "Stickbuddy Jamboree" with Bob Burns, that aired from AFN-Kaiserslautern and later from AFN-Stuttgart. I also remember the Saturday afternoon show "Weekend World" from Frankfurt, the "Fitch Bandwagon" and the Music-Show in the evening "Sounds of the Sixties" and "Music in the Air".

I was surprised to find this in a record store. Airman Jerry Keller has a visit from Jim Reeves. When these shows were done, the songs were recorded especially for the shows. Take your shoes off and think about opportunities in the US Air Force!

Saturday, July 16, 2016

I haven't been able to post as often as I should, but busy. I finally picked up a record washing machine. Spin-Clean makes the most economical one that works. If you've been thinking about getting one, they're half off until the end of the month. No I'm not getting anything for bringing it up. It's a sweet product. I'm in the process of cleaning thousands of LPs. Click here

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Ira was with us for a long long time. His easy going ways and stories made the time go by well into the 70s. Today it's Friday and Ira's ready for the weekend. Henri Rene the artist of the day and Alan Sherman.

Monday, July 11, 2016

The world changes in one picture Chris Noel in Vietnam 1966. Chris made overseas tours, all over the world pass that much faster on a Date With Chris. She's dedicated her life to the veteran cause, from going to war zones to running a homeless veteran's shelter today. Chris, America owes you a lot. Thank you.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

I used to do the morning show in Panama then run the Charlie Tuna show...and listen. Charlie had an awful lot of what we wanted to grow up to be" Years later I was working at a station in Manchester and the PD was asked me how I could do content that wasn't cliché "topical" or "music related" but was 'one on one'. It was something I think we learned from all of the AFRTS guys, but Charlie in particular.